Category Archives: Theology

This is a post about many things… it’s about the Israeli/Hamas conflict, it’s about the different ages we have lived in along with the different covenants, and it is about the hearts of Christians. Admittedly this is about my heart, because I find myself having to write today after a very disturbing happening on a Christian message board. I worries me for the sake of some professed believers because apparently many people do not acknowledge the depth of their own sinfulness and the role Jesus plays in this age of grace, and it makes me incredibly incredibly sad.

First, let me be clear on a few things; Israel is doing the right thing in battling Hamas. That is what I believe having looked at the facts of what transpired prior to Israel’s retaliation against Hamas rockets. Israel has an absolute right to defend herself. Israel is also right in doing something else that no one is talking about; Israel sends aid and even sets up hospitals in order to help the Palestinian people. While Hamas tries to bomb and attack the roads and the workers bringing that aid to the civilians. Hamas does not believe in civilians, Israel does.

There is coming a time when God will refocus everything on Israel because He still has promises to keep to them as a nation. But right now we are in the Church Age, this is the age of grace. The Church does not replace Israel, Israel still has a future front in center of God’s attention. In Christ, therefore in the Church, there is neither Jew nor Greek. We truly live in a special age, an age of mercy and grace. God speaks to us through His Son, for now there are no kings or prophets or judges leading Israel, there is no temple, hence Israel is not in the same position as it was in the OT with the ability for their leaders to receive orders directly from God.

So here is what has me upset, you can leave a comment if you like to explain why I either should or should not be upset. The question was posed whether or not, given the capability, Israel should wipe out every Palestinian. Seriously that was the question. The argument is that Israel, under the Old Covenant, and in the OT was ordered to do that very thing in different circumstances. I was saddened by all the responses that agreed that they should indeed wipe them out. I pointed out that Palestinians are not all members of Hamas, nor do all of them support Hamas. I also pointed out that there are brothers and sisters in Christ who are Palestinian. None of that mattered.

Hamas needs to be wiped out, just like the Nazi were stopped. Of course they should be. We all also know that civilian casualties in war are inevitable, and it doesn’t help when Hamas uses human shields… why do they do that? Because they don’t believe in civilians. Literally, they believe everyone is a combatant. But here’s the catch; they are wrong. Perhaps these Christians I was conversing with would like to go kill all the Palestinian infants? I’m confused, I’m saddened, and it is readily apparent they don’t recognize that we are in the Church age.

This is the age of mercy and grace, and yes, it will come to an end, but right now we are in it. Jesus did not tell His people to go try to kill all the Romans, and we are the Body of Christ. We represent Jesus now. Again, there will be a time when the church is not here, then the game changes, and God resumes His direct interaction with Israel, but that time is not yet. To see Christians promoting the wiping out of humans on that scale saddens me to the core. Where is the mercy and grace? Where is the acknowledgment that we are guilty sinners worthy of death ourselves outside of Christ? Where is the teaching that we should be trying to reach both Muslims and Jews with the good news of Christ, right up until we are snatched away? Where is the teaching on the difference between the Old and New Covenants, and why God ordered what He did in the OT? Ugh.

My heart hurts, and I’m so disappointed, and that disappointment is obviously directed at man, not God. I will continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and to support Israel, and thank goodness that Israel herself doesn’t take the view of some very vengeful believers.

To my brothers and sister I say grace and peace be with you through Jesus our Lord.

When we look at the books of the New Testament (NT) chronologically, we can do something kind of interesting. We can look at the main authors of the NT (Peter, Paul, and John), and figure out which words we can read in scripture were the “last words” of aforesaid Peter, Paul, and John. That is what we are going to do in this article, but it is also interesting to go through and read the last sentences of the books of the Bible; it doesn’t take long and it can really make you think, so when you have some free study time, try it out.

Alright, here’s the list:

Peter: 2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

John: Revelation 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Do you see the theme yet? I see 3 components that are always there. This article is inspired by a teaching by Doc Scott, and he picked one aspect to focus on so I mention that component first, and that is grace. “Grow in grace,” “grace be with you,” and “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” Do you think grace is important? Each and every last word from the heavy hitters of the NT includes grace. What is the second? Jesus Christ. What is the third? The “amen,” the affirmation to the reader of these things. When God repeats things, they tend to be important don’t they?

In order of importance:

1) Jesus. Let’s look at the phrases used: Lord, Saviour, Christ. Those are the titles given to Him in these three passages. The way that the word “Lord” is used here by Jewish individuals can leave no room for debate, it means they are bestowing the honor of the word reserved for God and apply it to Jesus. Remember Thomas’ “my Lord and my God?” Here that is underscored by the big 3. Saviour meaning one who saves. Christ meaning Messiah. So Jesus, our “God is with us,” Who is our Savior and Messiah is the cornerstone of the great last words of Peter, Paul, and John. We would expect no less, but do we recognize Him in such a profound way in our speech, even in our churches in today’s world? Should He not be included in every single last word that we have in our churches and between believers? Our Lord, Saviour, and Messiah; Jesus.

Peter even admonishes us to grow in the knowledge of Jesus. We should learn of and be reminded of, His life, death, and resurrection. His life including perfection, and His teachings, His death and why He had to die, and His resurrection as the sign and promise of our faith. Study it, teach it, learn of Him because His yoke is easy and burden light.

2) Grace. I’ve taught on here about grace. The Greek means “unmerited favor.” Peter received the grace of Jesus firsthand after denying Him 3 times. Jesus forgave and forgave and forgave. Peter never earned it. Neither do we ever earn forgiveness. We cannot work our way to forgiveness, there is no physical act we can do to earn forgiveness, He bestows it upon us and we are to grow in it! This is why I decry anything that smacks of sacramentalism. Peter, Paul and John offer the reminder of grace and the free flowing nature of it from God to us, and we don’t do anything to merit it. The Lord and Saviour Jesus the Messiah did everything to merit the grace for us!! What is our response? Faith.

In Galatians 2:21 Paul boldly proclaims “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Jesus died for the free flow of grace to us from our God! His death was both necessary and sufficient to open the gate… to tear down the curtain dividing us from God. Paul clearly says, “grace be with you.” Unmerited favor be with you. No hoops, no red tape; grace be with you. The same comes from John, the Apostle of love; “grace be with you.” Do you get it yet? lol Grace be with YOU.

3) Amen. Amen translates into “so be it.” Grace be with you, so be it. That’s double affirmation being displayed with faith. It is the communication that what has proceeded the “amen” is in line with God’s will, and that it shall be done because of His goodness and promises. When we have faith, which is trust, in what God has said and done, we have that ability to say amen; so be it. Jesus is Lord, Saviour, and Messiah. Learn about Him. Grow in His grace. So be it! If only our preachers and teachers reminded us of this, and underscored the meaning of it, and taught it with authority.

So, those are the things that Peter, Paul, and John believed were so fundamental that they included them at the very end of their correspondence. Humans tend to remember the first things and the last things mentioned to them in letters and speeches. Pay attention to these things and put them in your heart, because they are fundamental to what it means to be Christians.

To my fellow believers in Jesus who have placed their trust in Him, I say; grace and peace be with you through faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

I am going to review all 3 major titles in what I call “The Duggar Collection.” They include; The Duggars: 20 and Counting!, A Love That Multiplies, and Growing Up Duggar. The first two in the list were both written by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the last was written by Jill, Jinger, Jessa, and Jana Duggar. If you’ve ever read my review of Do Hard Things, this review will be similar.

First, some background. I do watch the television series about this family on TLC; 19 Kids and Counting so I was already familiar with the Duggars and there were no earth-shattering revelations for long-time watchers of the show contained in the books. If you like the show, you’ll like the books, if you like to mock the show (or the family) you’ll mock the books. While the Duggars’ particular brand of Christianity isn’t my brand, I still respect their morals, commitment to family, financial position, etc… so I did enjoy all three books.

Second, if you want to cut the list down, I can help do that for you. If you want a book about the parenting principles and the life stories of Jim Bob and Michelle, read A Love that Multiplies. It covers very similar ground as the first book, but it is more recent and contains the story of Josie. If you want a book about relationships and courting from the perspective of 4 young ladies, along with stories of the Duggar clan, then read Growing Up Duggar.

The good; the Duggars are a breath of fresh air in this modern world when it comes to parenting. They care about their kids (yes, all of them), and have committed their time and energy to making sure their family is taken care of and brought up within a caring and loving environment. The books give the reader a window into their philosophies, which they obviously ground in scripture the way they interpret it. They include their perspectives on debt, modesty, parenting, homeschooling, morals, business, courting, etc… If you are interested in these topics presented with Christianity mixed in to all of them, then you’d probably enjoy the books even if you disagree.

I think that large families, as long as they are self-supporting, are awesome. I’m amazed that some people hate the Duggars simply because there are so many of them. They don’t take government support, they all seem bright and healthy, intelligent, interesting, etc… Whether a couple has no children, or 19, it is their choice and they can be a strong and happy family.

The girls’ book particularly was interesting to me, because I’m always curious of what the “next generation” thinks about all this. They tackle the area of relationships, and do so in a generally thorough (yet sometimes detail-lacking) manner. Their discussion on courting, parental relationships, and sibling relationships was informative, and again, refreshing.

The not-so-good; although the Duggars deny that they are a part of “The Quiverfull Movement” in Christianity, it is hard not to see the connection. Why such a large family? Because they believe that it is God and God alone Who determines the number of kids that a couple are blessed with, and this means no contraception allowed. So, what’s wrong with that? This particular movement tends to draw Legalists in by the boatload, and to judge others who don’t follow the same philosophy. Happily, I can say that I don’t pick up a lot of judgmentalism from the Duggars, who overtly say that they teach that their way is not the way for everyone when it comes to having kids. They simply stand by their own convictions and cite scriptures that they feel back up their POV.

Another not-so-good aspect to the family is that they “follow” or “read” materials and philosophies of some individuals in Christendom that are questionable in their theology, and perhaps even in their private lives. Bill Gothard is one such example. Anytime there is a strong teaching of different gender roles, one must be extraordinarily careful and be on the look out for sexual misconduct. I’m one that believes in different roles for the genders in certain areas, and I’m also one of the biggest skeptics when it comes to a philosophy that uses words like “sweet;” think sweet, be sweet, keep sweet, as applied to females. Ugh. FLDS anyone? Sex abuse anyone? Bill Gothard has had sexual misconduct allegations following him around for awhile now, and we have to be sure we look on someone as being innocent until proven guilty. However when talking of certain philosophies there is a great chance in some of them for women and girls to be abused.

Thankfully, I see no sign of that from the Duggar clan. I don’t believe in condemning someone because of the people they read, but I include this type of information in my review because I want to make it clear that it is is a red flag for my readers if they decide to delve into the Duggars’ books. Know that many of the ways they interpret certain scriptures are not the way that I, or even a majority, of Christians interpret them, and many of their resources listed are impacted heavily by those like Gothard and those in the Quiverfull movement.

In short, I liked all 3 books, though there was repeating information in each. I have learned a lot about large families and also how certain scripture are interpreted by those from this perspective. I truly appreciate the information they presented on raising kids, morality, and their faith. While everything seems to be going well right now for this family and the kids, there is always a chance that things could change, such as if we see one or more of the kids joining more mainstream Christian churches and “rebelling,” then we could see a different side to all of this. In fact, statistically, we’d expect to see some Duggar descendent choose their own path, as God guides the individual.

The danger in some of the teachings they push are just that, which is the danger of demanding everyone be a foot, or all be an arm in the Body of Christ; “Cookie-cutter Chrisitians” in other words. We also must be sure that we are not relying on good works or conformity to save us, but rather on Christ for it by grace we are saved through faith. It is a good thing to rely on God to guide us and convict us, and at the same time to make sure we are truly understanding scripture as it is meant to be understood. So, just make sure you are firmly grounded in scripture and in faith when reading books on other beliefs within Christianity (such as the Duggars have); test all things and hold to that which is good and true.

I heard something on the radio today that disturbed me greatly. What was it? A preacher trying to tell parents the way to tell their kids about God, Jesus, and salvation. Ugh. No. He was tossing words out there like “justification.” Yeah, say that word to your three year old, and see if they understand. The preacher was making a point in saying that you just keep telling the child the same thing over and over, and eventually, mysteriously, they’ll get it.

Any developmentalist will tell you that you don’t talk to a three year old the way you talk to a nine year old, it’s useless. The preacher seemed to think that a child has to jump through a series of hoops in order to be well and truly saved, and that the kid needs to know everything an adult would know, and that the child needs to make sure to be old enough, etc… Well, yeah, children need to have an understanding of who Jesus is, and what He did. But, Jesus didn’t ask how old the children were who wanted to come to Him.

Anyone, regardless of age is allowed to go to Jesus, in fact, it is encouraged. The child isn’t going to be able to set down and write out a dissertation on sin and redemption, but that’s fine. A child’s faith is held up as what we adults are to aim for. A parent needs to evaluate each child and not compare them to one another. Some will “get it” sooner than others, and that’s fine. It is indeed your responsibility to always check along the way, for example, when your child wants to take communion, you need to make sure they do understand what it means.

Further, parents, it is your job to teach you children, not a preacher. You need to know your own faith, and why you have it, good enough to explain that to your children. Know faith and grace, know scripture, know Jesus. Remember your kids are watching you and you need to make sure you realize you are their number one model. Also, realize your child does not know what you know, you are not your child. You may know that baptism isn’t required for salvation, and why, but your kids don’t, unless you TEACH them.

Some parents think that they can just give their children books, or have them watch cartoons, or listen to a certain preacher and that will be fine. No, it won’t. You are to raise your children up with the instruction that they need from you personally. Ask questions, and then really listen to their answers. Listen to sermons together, watch those cartoons together. Read the Bible together, and don’t water it down.

As a final thought; as you walk this road with your child, I would bet they’ll teach you a lot about God too, so be willing to learn.

I can’t believe I actually have to type that. I also have to apparently type; Jesus was not a Democrat, Jesus was not a Liberal, Jesus was not a Republican, Jesus was not a Conservative, and on and on and on. Jesus was God made flesh, the Messiah, the Lion and the Lamb, the only perfect human who was also 100% God.

I’ve heard that phrase, “Jesus was a hippie” from several sources, and it always makes me wonder if the person saying that knows what a hippie was. It is easy to romanticize political or societal fads and movements, but to associate Jesus with a romanticized version of a historical movement is dangerous in the extreme. Some people do it to try to sound funny, some do it rhetorically to try to make a point as to how they would like Jesus to be.

Hippies. What did they stand for? One of the obvious things was “free love.” What does that mean? The idea of free love included an attack against monogamous marriage. There is also a more generalized idea that a sexual relationship contains no obligation. Sleep with who you want, whenever and wherever you want. Does that sound like Jesus to you?

Another aspect of the hippie culture was their advocacy and use of drugs. One of the focuses was on mind altering substances, such as LSD. God desires us to have temperance and a sound mind. We are never to imbibe a substance that completely alters our brain chemistry. Even something like marijuana, despite its growing positive reputation, can trigger a psychotic episode that can in turn trigger lifelong schizophrenia. The effects of these drugs on fallen human bodies and natures is negative in the extreme; for the individual, their families, and society. Do you think Jesus advocates that?

How about peace? The peace the hippies chanted about is not the peace Jesus preached to us and offers us. We could have all the peace on this earth we desire and still lack peace in eternity. Make love, not war. Sure, that works in this fallen world. The hippies could flourish here in the US where other people were putting their lives on the line to insure freedom of expression and freedom of speech. The peace Jesus offers is grace unearned so that we can have a relationship with the creator of all.

How about nature and flowers and rainbows? Jesus is the Word of God, it was by Him and through Him that all was made. Hippies made the age old mistake of worshiping the creation instead of the creator. Rainbows should remind us of fallen man, and God’s promises. Nature and flowers? Part of creation, so are we. We were fashioned from the ground by God Himself.

As I mentioned before, most who try to paint Jesus this way want Him to fit an agenda that they personally believe in. It doesn’t work that way. To portray Jesus in any way other than Biblically is presenting a false Christ.

Recently an acquaintance of mine posted this link on Facebook (it’s not her article, just a share), clearly in support of what it says; 10 Things You Can’t Do While Following Jesus. Please do read it. I do tend to like lists like this, as they make it easy to breakdown and talk about point by point. First things first; why did I feel the need to review and respond to this particular blog post? Because one of my main pet peeves is anyone who paints Jesus like a milksop weakling, and quite frankly I’m offended when someone calls God Himself a hippie (I think I have my next article right there).

Alright, lets move on to the 10 points;

10) Exclude people because they practice another religion. That depends on the context that we are talking about. We can surely mingle with people of other faiths, help people of other faiths, study other faiths, and respect people of other faiths, and have them as friends. On the flip side, Jesus made it clear that faith in anything or anyone other than Himself will have a negative eternal effect. Jesus is the only way to The Father, and no one can have a relationship with God except through Him. So, He also called us to make sure that people of other faiths know the requirement of eternal life; faith in Jesus Christ.

9) Exclude people for what they look like, how they were born or things beyond their control. I’m in complete agreement with the first part of this statement. But, “how they were born” or “things beyond their control” is a bit vague. What does that mean? Lets assume that this is a statement on something like homosexual acts. Well, I was born with a seemingly inborn tendency to lie. I confess it, and I’m a wonderful liar… but that’s a no-no, in other words being a liar is not what God wants from me. So, I turn to Him to help me not lie. Guess what? It works 90% of the time, and I’m working on the 10%. It has nothing to do with my salvation, but has a lot to do with my sanctification. In short, it is true that Jesus didn’t run from sinners, but to them. Also, look at the woman caught in adultery and who was brought to Jesus, that dialogue ended with “go and sin no more.” No exclusion, I agree. No calling good evil and evil good either.

As a side note, a lot of the “ism’s” of our culture are truly reprehensible, those are the things that every Christians should fight against, including sexism, ageism, and racism. Also the churches out there harming others instead of helping them should be ashamed. For example, if someone is a diagnosed Kleptomaniac, they are indeed a thief, but kicking them out of the church isn’t going to be doing them any good as they can’t currently control their actions. Community, therapy, monitoring, etc… can help the person curb that behavior, even if they have to fight it the rest of their lives.

8) Withhold healthcare from people.I had to read that twice to make sure that is what the author actually wrote. It was. He argues that Jesus was a fan of healthcare for all because He healed people. Um… there is a world of difference between healthcare and miraculous healing. Jesus was clear that He was healing people to show that He was indeed the Messiah, and He healed supernaturally. He used healing to show that He had the power to forgive sins. Healthcare from the government was never meant to be a “right” or something that was granted to us without us doing our jobs. I guess Obama really is the second coming with his “wonderful” program Obamacare. It is the church’s job to help those who can’t help themselves, esp. widows and orphans. Physical health in this life is not my right, and Jesus never promised me that, and it certainly isn’t the government’s job to “heal” me.

7) Exclude people. Let me quote this on in full, “Last time. Promise. Jesus was constantly including people. It’s a little concept called love. He was pretty big on it.” Ugh. He includes all people as sinners, and that all are invited to learn of Him, and faithe on Him. Yes, indeed all are welcome to the church, and the church’s job is to tell someone about Jesus and how to be saved. You are saved by turning to God, and faithing on Jesus. If you are faithing on man, Buddha, Krishna, the Islamic God Allah, the earth mother, etc… you are not going to be included in Heaven. On earth we should and can mingle with everyone, as long as we are clear that there are indeed two categories of humans; the saved and the unsaved, our job is to make sure the unsaved know how to be included in the saved category, that’s love. Jesus said He did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

6) Let people go hungry.Jesus let people go hungry, after He made the point with the loaves and the fishes. He fed ’em, then they started following simply to get another handout of food. He then explained that He is real food, the bread from Heaven. Crowds wanted their bellies filled again, and He said they were shortsighted, that faithing on Him was what would fill us, not physical food. Don’t get me wrong, if someone is in need, it is our duty to help them as they can; IF they are in need. If they are lazy and not working, I’m actually damaging them if I let them continue to take from others what they did not earn.

Side note; the author says that world hunger could be solved, “There is not a food shortage in the world — there is enough for everyone. There is not a problem with having a distribution system capable of handling it; I can eat lobster from Maine while looking over the Pacific ocean. The problem is that we aren’t very good at sharing.” That is not a true statement. We are actually very good at sharing it, but there are leaders intent on stealing it in foreign countries. They are starving their own people on purpose.

5) Make money more important than God (and the children of God).I agree with this simple statement, but not his following points. The love of money is indeed the root of all evil, but going to shop somewhere like WalMart isn’t a sin. When we serve money instead of it serving us (and by extension, God) that is when things sour. Further, it is not the Government’s job to do the job of the church. I don’t mind paying taxes for things that are the proper realm of the government, things like the roads and the military. I do mind paying taxes for things that are not biblical, and no business of the government.

4) Judge others. Yes and no. The context is never to judge another when it comes to salvation, and we are not allowed to make up sins to pick on. We are also no longer allowed, religiously, to judge another person as being righteous or unrighteous. We are to judge whether someone could harm us, or cause a brother or sister to stumble. If we do judge someone else as a stumblingblock, that isn’t a judgment on salvation. If you have a sheep biting and harming the other sheep, and that little flock is under your care as an under-shepherd, you don’t allow that sheep to hurt the rest. It’s still a sheep, but you provide some distance between him and the rest of the flock.

3)Be physically aggressive or violent. Again, yes and no. The author rightly tries to catch himself; Jesus did indeed become aggressive in a righteous way. That shows it is indeed possible. Jesus didn’t just drive the money changers out, He made the whip He used. Let me repeat; He made the whip. Also, it is true that later, He told Peter to put up his sword, but why? Because Jesus was allowing history to unfold as it had to. It wasn’t time for the apostles to fight, it was time for Jesus to be arrested.

Physical aggression and violence, for a Christian, should be extraordinarily limited. Self defense, or defense of the innocent. That can take the form of a just war if need be. Attacking Nazi soldiers to free the Jews, for example, was a righteous use of force.

2) Use the church to hurt people. The church is “merely” those people that are “out-called ones.” We are a group of people faithing on Jesus. Of course the church shouldn’t be hurting people, quite the opposite. We are taught to love God, each other, and even our enemies. But, this is where the author calls Jesus a hippie. Sorry, no. He is lamb and lion. To ignore that aspect of Jesus that we clearly see in Revelation is to preach a false Christ. The church is to spread the good news and to be a community of like-minded believers.

1) Hate. Not so fast. Hating another human is a no-no; however, hate in and of itself is not a sin. God hates. We are to hate what God hates. Do you love sin? Do you love the fallen world? Not if you are in tune with God.

Every now and again I’m reminded of one of the reasons why true believers are so loyal and fixed on Jesus. Have you ever noticed that there are some people that are so honorable, smart, charismatic, and loyal that others go into orbit around them. They function as true north, and everyone else is a compass needle. There are real life examples of this, George Washington was once such human.

There are also fictional characters that function the same way, the most recent example I can think of is Gibbs on NCIS. Characters like him are so popular because we humans seem to be made to follow courage, justice, caring, etc… People who display these characteristics tend to attract followers who are willing to follow them anywhere.

This can also be a bad thing when people follow charisma simply because they cannot seem to determine their own lives. They want someone to tell them specifically what to do and when to do it, as well as what to believe. That is what happens when a cult springs up. Following a good person is beneficial, following a bad person is detrimental.

What does this have to do with Christianity? We are so drawn to Jesus because in Him is all goodness and none of the imperfection that brings detriment. In Jesus we have a human, that because He is also God, is totally righteous, just, loving, merciful, brilliant, honest, loyal, etc… In Him we have a leader that we can totally trust 100% of the time because He has proven Himself in ways that everyone alive can still check out.

We follow Him and love Him because He is Truth itself, He is the Way, the only proper Way, of having a correct worldview. He loved us so much that He did and does not lead from behind; instead, He paved the way for us giving His life, health, and very self for us, to fix our mess and to forgive our sin. Why do we love Him and defend Him? Amongst many reasons, it is because we are grateful to have a leader such as Him. And, unlike false leaders, He gives us absolute and total freedom.

He teaches us what is best for humans; to forgive, to love, to serve, to hope, to be courageous and strong, to stand up for those that cannot stand up for themselves. While He is our leader, He teaches us self-responsibility, how to think for ourselves, and how to care for our enemies. Nonbelievers cannot grasp this idea, they are intent on either following themselves, or other flawed humans. That is the problem with any other form of idolatry; you are not following the correct leader. Do you worship money, fame, self, nature, other gods, philosophies? Then you are not following truth, and it will be to your detriment.

One of the great paradoxes of Christianity is the idea of becoming a slave to Jesus, and that makes you completely free. A true leader does not try to exert forced control, or tell followers to shut off their brains. Jesus asks us to freely choose, and enables our choice. If we do freely choose Him, He then sets us totally free from both sin and the confines of the law, and in effect, He allows us to make all of our own choices in life, while at the same time promising to guide us and guard us if we will heed His voice. We are painted as sheep; however, it is sheep with no fences but rather a loving and powerful shepherd that tends to His flock.